Wednesday, October 31, 2012

CMJ 2012 Conference Highlights

Sure bushels of showcases chock full of emerging artists garner the most press coverage at CMJ, but let's not forget the real bread and butter of the conference: panels. I track new releases every week, and most of the artists that play CMJ will come through LA in the next six months. Plus, if I see them for fun at a venue here I won't have to deal with packed crowds, and juggling singing along with networking. However, it will be awhile before I get another chance to watch top industry professionals debate the finer points of this fast-paced, dynamic, competitive music business.

I went to as many panels, round tables, and career counseling sessions as I could at CMJ this year, plus the entirety of the college day conference. It took up the majority of 4 days straight: conference all day, music all night. No sleep 'till Brooklyn after a red-eye Monday night. However, lucky for you, dear readers, if you missed CMJ and actually got a healthy amount of sleep the other week. here are my personal notes from the top 5 conference highlights of CMJ 2012. Read, enjoy, and get educated, my fellow music business fiends.

A Day In The Life Of A Sucessful Career DJRoi Hernandez, Head of Creative Services & Electronic A&R, A&M/Octone
Jamieson Hill, CEO/DJ, A Jamieson Hill Experience
Mia Moretti, DJ
Rob Principe, Co-Founder & CEO, Scratch Music Group
William Tramontozzi aka DJ JS-1, Owner/Artist, Ground Original

Social media is important but doesn’t replace being there in person, persistently networking

Even when you’re not playing, you need to be there meeting people

“Anyone who controls the music is a DJ.” – Scratch Music Academy

Do you take people on a journey?

Pop songs as a tool for DJs to get the audience to a specific place, and then throw in something unusual

DJing with live musicians

DJs are meant to interpret music, and be a filter to present sounds to the average listener

Good lighting show?

Production/DJ overlap, contention?, both deliver a performance, all just pressing buttons?

Thinking of DJing as a spectrum, many kinds of DJs, but all on the same spectrum

Turntables as an instrument, DJing as an art form and science

DJ magic, feeling the audience: spontaneity

Pressure to produce? Related to career growth and the ability to draw hard ticket sells